A formative story of how I cried in college in a thoughtful, open interview

Jaime Jay hosts the Stop Riding the Pine podcast, meaning don’t live like you’re on the bench of a team competition. Get in the game.

Yesterday he posted our interview. He brought a lot out of me. A signature part of his podcast is to ask the guest for a breakaway moment in life, when something exciting happened. You’ll get to hear about a tearful make-or-break moment in my life that punctuated my departure from feeling entitled to participation to choosing to earn it. I’m leaving the description vague here because the podcast tells it better than I could write it.

Joshua Spodek

On today’s episode, Jaime Jay welcomes Joshua Spodek. Joshua is the author of the bestselling Leadership Step by Step. He earned such praise as “Best and Brightest” (Esquire Magazine’s Genius Issue), “Astrophysicist turned new media whiz” (NBC), and “Rocket Scientist” (Forbes Magazine and ABC News) with success in such diverse fields as science, invention, entrepreneurship, art, leadership, coaching, and education.

“You have more of an education, but you feel you have less options.” -Joshua Spodek

Ownership in Success

Joshua loves physics and the academe. He acknowledges that achievements, particularly his major ones like the observational satellite, are gained through years of practice. He also loves entrepreneurship. It comes with the sense of ownership which, as Joshua puts it, is a great feeling that comes from contributing to something. It isn’t about owning shares and equity.

No to Fear

Fear of judgment and rejection could delay success. Joshua realized this after having top authors to promote his book. He initially didn’t think about marketing.

“If you’re afraid of getting judged and that maybe people won’t like it, you should have done a long time before.” -Joshua Spodek

It took him 45 pages for the proposal and a little over 6 months of writing. But, Joshua did not have enough confidence to promote. In the process, he realized his effort and seriousness to complete the book. Having learned from that experience, he advises people to avoid living in anxiety.

Just Do It

One thing he liked about marketing is the opportunity to converse with people. It’s a two-way communication that enables anyone to connect with others. Such conversations served as Joshua’s big foundation for success. His biggest accomplishment was writing every day. He just started his 7th year, and has been spending 2 hours daily for each blog post. Since then, he has written nearly 2,500 posts.

Anyone can write blog posts. Anyone can write 2,500 blog posts. You just have to do it.” -Joshua Spodek

People have asked him how he did it. He shares that the problem is not ‘how’ but to actually do it. Download and listen to today’s episode about Joshua Spodek. Feel free to tweet him @spodek or send him a message. Remember to let Joshua know you heard about him on Stop Riding the Pine! Get in touch with Joshua: